The present invention relates to a process for producing an improved filling mix and on hydration without cooking or baking produces a smooth, creamy and firm texture with a sliceable pie cut characteristic on setting.
The trend requires food preparation to be of the type of instanteous use. This means that in instant pudding or instant filling preparations, these foods are prepared from a dry mix without cooking. The difficulty associated with these conveniences is that starting materials used to prepare these high quality instant foods must be carefully controlled and the tolerance of these controls are exceptionally tight wherein many of these formulations are not considered satisfactory and require recycling, reworking, etc. of the finished dry mixes increasing the costs of production.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,592 issued to Carpenter et al. describes a pudding mix composition which, when combined with milk produces a desirable, creamy, glossy pudding. This is accomplished using fine particles of pregelatinized starch having less than a maximum of 1% by weight of the starch having a particle diameter greater than 63 microns (i.e., retained on a 230 mesh U.S. Standard Screen). A regular starch would generally have a particle size wherein less than 50% by weight of the starch particles pass through a 400 mesh U.S. Standard Screen with a substantial amount of the starch being retained on a 230 mesh U.S. Standard Screen (e.g., greater than 10%, usually greater than 25-50% by weight of the starch). U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,148 issued to O'Rourke et al. describes the use of controlled sized finely divided starch and controlled sized finely divided sugar particles to achieve a desirable, creamy, glossy pudding while U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,712 issued to Katcher et al. claims an improved dry instant pudding mix made from controlled sized starch and sugar.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,554,143 issued to Hinz et al. teaches that finely divided starch particles can be used in an instant pudding mix, only if their rate of hydration is retarded. Hinz et al. achieve the hydration rate retardation by coating the starch with a hydrophobic rate retardation by coating the starch with a hydrophobic material such as a lipid or talc. The problem Hinz et al. recognized is that when fine starch particles hydrate, there is a tendency for these particles to lump to the point when it is quite difficult to prepare a smooth pudding product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,622 issued to Wison et al. describes a product and process for the making of a dry mix capable of being hydrated in an aqueous medium to form, without need for cooking, a firm gelled mass suitable for use as a pastry or pie filling having textural and organoleptic properties similar to those possessed by a cooked, starch-based filling. This product is produced by mixing sugar, starch, food-grade acidulant and appropriate amounts of flavorants and/or colorants. The starch component provides specific properties of viscosity and texture to the hydrated product. This procedure, however, provides a very grainy, lumpy appearance resembling an apple sauce product. This appearance is not desired in the production of pie fillings or puddings.
In a copending application U.S. Ser. No. 802,544 filed Nov. 27, 1985 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,397, issued Jan. 13, 1987, being commonly assigned to this application, there is a method described which provides an instant mix, and on reconstitution or hydration a no bake pie-filling mix is produced which has an improved glossy, smooth, creamy and firm texture with a sliceable pie cut characteristic on setting. This is accomplished by uniformity oil coating the natural carbohydrate sweetener solid particles with a liquid hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated edible oil, then dry mixing the oil coated sweetener with a rapid hydratable cold water swelling starch, maltodextrin, flavorants and the like to provide a flowable powder. This is accomplished in two steps to provide a highly desirable product in the presence of maltodextrin.